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ABOUT
One day last month I got the idea for an online puzzle advent calendar. For the uninitiated, an advent calendar is a (possibly German) tradition involving a calendar for the 24 days leading up to Christmas Day. Every day, a window on the calendar is opened, and something (usually a religious scene or sacrament or more recently, chocolate) was found. In this secularised online twist, you get a puzzle for each day leading up to Xmas. The aim is to solve all the puzzles with a view to self-fulfilment, or, more prosaically, winning the prize. Anyone can enter.
THE PUZZLES
The puzzles are varied. Some are mathematical, others computer-oriented, some linguistic, others tests of ingenuity and lateral thinking. In terms of tools, they are designed to be solvable by anyone with a reasonable computer, relatively sophisticated computer skills, and the Internet. (The last of these is particularly important.) To be truthful, the puzzles are sometimes anglophone-centric. But not very much. The puzzles range (I think, having written them) from teasing to diabolical. Some puzzles offer no verbal cues - in which case, simply use the materials available and decipher them to a meaningful 'answer.' If the answer you discover is still a 'mystery' then you probably need to solve another layer for the actual "answer." You may use (and may need to use) all and any legal methods available to decipher the puzzles. Obviously, you have to come up with what I consider to be the answer! A new puzzle will be released before 9 am AEST each day. To access the puzzle for a given day, click on the date on the Calendar.
THE PRIZE
The person, pair or group with the highest score who has also completed all 24 puzzles on January 30, 2007 will receive a single prize of paperback book(s) up to the value of AUD50.00 from Readings in Melbourne. (You share the single prize if a pair or group.) Airmail shipping (if necessary) included. Groups may enter but the prize is the same, and the book(s) will only ship to one address. If no-one successfully solves all puzzles by January 30, 2007 the prize will lapse. I will publish answers (and ways of solving!) on January 30th too.
THE SCORING
The maximum possible score for each puzzle is 10. Every time I add a clue for a puzzle to the clue page, the score you can achieve for that puzzle reduces by 2 points. If I receive your correct answer (see below) after the clue has gone up, you'll receive 10-(2 x the number of clues for that given puzzle) points. No disputes will be entered into over 'lost' emails etc!
CHECKING YOUR SOLUTION/CONTACT
I'm a dummy with SQL and CGI and all that muck so you'll have to email me at advent2006@richardjackson.org to check your answers. Make sure to put the puzzle number! You can only check any given puzzle's answer 5 times a day. You can ask questions too, but I won't answer them. They'll help me formulate the clues though!
GOOD LUCK!!!
